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Written by Clare Ferguson and Katarzyna Sochacka.

The highlight of the February II 2023 plenary session was a debate with the Council and the European Commission marking one year since Russia’s invasion and the start of its war of aggression against Ukraine. Members also debated the European Union response to the humanitarian situation following the earthquake in Türkiye and Syria. Members discussed EU funding allocated to non-governmental organisations incriminated in recent corruption revelations, following up on measures requested by Parliament to strengthen the integrity of European institutions and to establish an independent EU ethics body.

The European Commission and Council also made statements on a Green Deal industrial plan and access to strategic critical raw materials. Parliament discussed the outcome of the recent special European Council meeting, and among other topics concerning non-EU countries, the further repressions against the people of Belarus, in particular the cases of Andrzej Poczobut and Ales Bialiatski.

Finally, in a formal sitting, Members heard an address by Egils Levits, President of the Republic of Latvia.

REPowerEU chapters in recovery and resilience plans

Members debated and adopted the provisional agreement reached with the Council on REPowerEU chapters in recovery and resilience plans. The amendments to the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) should enable EU countries to use their RRF plans to fund additional energy investment and reform measures necessitated by the twin climate and energy crises. Parliament’s negotiators have ensured that the RRF amendments prioritise tackling energy poverty and small businesses, and that spending under the plans will be fully transparent.

CO2 emission standards for cars and vans

Transport is the only sector in which greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have continued to rise. In line with measures to tackle climate change, Members held a debate and approved the interinstitutional agreement reached with the Council on reducing road transport emissions under the ‘Fit for 55’ initiative. To set stricter CO2 emission standards for new cars and vans, Parliament’s negotiators have succeeded in introducing more ambitious zero low emission vehicle (ZLEV) incentives; limits to the maximum contribution of sustainable production (or ‘eco-innovation’) to CO2 reduction efforts; and have ensured measures are based on real-world energy consumption and emissions data.

Union secure connectivity programme 2023-2027

Members debated and approved an interinstitutional agreement on a proposal to ensure a resilient, interconnected and secure satellite system for the EU. Known as IRIS², this secure connectivity programme will run until 2027, setting up dedicated EU infrastructure to end EU dependency on other countries’ systems, which will be designed and deployed under private partnership to improve cyber-resilience and cybersecurity, high-speed broadband and seamless connectivity. The agreement on the proposal reflects Parliament’s priority for improved telecommunications security and a more sustainable space policy.

Electoral rights of mobile Union citizens

Parliament considered and adopted reports on two proposals to eliminate barriers to exercising the electoral rights of European citizens resident in Member States of which they are not nationals, such as a lack of information or difficult registration procedures. The Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) report on electoral rights in European Parliament elections underlines the need for improved access to voting booths, and encourages civil society involvement in ensuring citizens can obtain information, including in their own language. Members also debated and adopted a Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) report on proposals reinforcing mobile citizens’ electoral rights in municipal elections. The LIBE report calls for an end to derogations and restrictions, and urges Member States to facilitate voting for citizens with disabilities. Both files fall under the consultation procedure (where the Council is not bound by Parliament’s opinion), and the Council has to adopt the proposals unanimously.

European Central Bank annual report

Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank (ECB), attended the plenary for a debate on an Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) Committee own-initiative report on the 2021 ECB annual report. The report raises concerns about the high levels of inflation – at 2.6 % on average in 2021, but subsequently reaching 9.2 % in 2022. The ECON committee welcomes ECB measures to raise interest rates and the Bank’s recognition of the need to progress fiscal integration in the EU. However, it also warns that measures must be gradual, targeted and justified. The ECON committee particularly welcomes the ECB’s plans to incorporate climate risk in monetary policy.

EU accession to the Istanbul Convention

The Council of Europe’s Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (known as the Istanbul Convention) sets standards on prevention, protection, prosecution and services for those at risk of gender-based violence. Parliament has repeatedly called for EU accession to the Istanbul Convention as well as its ratification by those individual EU countries that have yet to do so. However, certain ‘deliberate misinterpretations’ persist. Members debated and adopted a joint report from Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) and the LIBE committee on EU accession to the Istanbul Convention. The report calls for constructive dialogue, aimed at dispelling remaining Member State concerns, and stresses that while not exempting individual countries from the need to ratify, EU accession can take place before all have done so.

Question time – Strengthened EU Western Balkan enlargement policy

Members posed questions to Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi regarding the EU’s strengthened Western Balkan enlargement policy. Under Article 49 TEU, the Parliament must consent to any accession to the EU. Its budgetary powers give it direct influence over the amounts allocated to enlargement tools, and Parliament recommends full use of the new EU enlargement methodology to accelerate integration for countries that demonstrate commitment to EU-related reform.

Opening of trilogue negotiations

Members confirmed, without a vote, six mandates to enter into interinstitutional negotiations from the ECON committee, on reports on: i) requirements for credit risk, credit valuation adjustment risk, operational risk, market risk and the output floor; ii) on supervisory powers, sanctions, third-country branches, and environmental, social and governance risks; iii) on delegation arrangements, liquidity risk management, supervisory reporting, provision of depositary and custody services and loan origination by alternative investment funds; iv) on establishing a European single access point providing centralised access to publicly available information of relevance to financial services, capital markets and sustainability; and v) on amending certain directives and vi) regulations as regards the establishment and functioning of the European single access point. Members also confirmed, without a vote, one Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) decision to enter into negotiations on the report on establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s semiconductors (‘chips act’), one decision from the LIBE committee on the report regarding digitalisation of the visa procedure, and one decision from the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) on the report on the 2023 European Year of Skills.

Read this ‘plenary at a glance’ on ‘Plenary round-up – February II 2023‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

Main agenda items, approximate timing and press opportunities.

Les eurodéputés voient la récente communication de la Commission sur les engrais comme une première étape pour assurer l’autonomie stratégique de l’UE dans ce secteur, mais ils suggèrent d’envisager des actions à plus long terme pour soutenir les agriculteurs en difficulté.

From climate change to child marriage, education is seen as the solution. ECW Director Yasmine Sherif protests early marriage with young delegates at the Education Cannot Wait Conference held in Geneva. Credit: ECW

By Joyce Chimbi
GENEVA & NAIROBI, Feb 17 2023 (IPS)

From southern Ethiopia to northern Kenya and Somalia, the most severe drought in the last 40 years is unfolding. It is simply too hot to go to school on an empty stomach, and close to 3 million children are out of school, with an additional 4 million at risk of dropping out entirely across the Horn of Africa.

Further afield, months after unprecedented floods and landslides ravaged Pakistan, villages remain underwater, and millions of children still need lifesaving support. More recently, while children were sleeping, a most devastating earthquake intruded, and an estimated 2.5 million children in Syria and 4.6 million children in Turkey were affected.

Today, child delegates from Nigeria and Colombia told the world that climate change is ruining their childhood and the world must act now, for 222 million dreams are at stake. They were speaking at the Education Cannot Wait High-Level Financing Conference held in Geneva.

 

Nafisa from Nigeria reminded delegates at the Education Cannot Wait High-Level Financing Conference held in Geneva that the climate emergency is a child’s rights issue. Credit: ECW

“I am a girl champion with Save the Children and a member of the children’s parliament in Nigeria. Children are least responsible for the climate crisis, yet we bear the heaviest burden of its impact, now and in the future. Climate emergency is a child’s rights crisis, and suffering wears the face of a child,” said Nafisa.

In the spirit of listening to the most affected, most at risk, Pedro further spoke about Colombia’s vulnerability to climate change and the impact on children, and more so those in indigenous communities and those living with a disability, such as his 13-year-old cousin.

Pedro and Nafisa stressed that children must play a central role in responding to the climate crisis in every corner of the world. They said climate change affects education, and in turn, education has an important role.

This particular session was organized in partnership with the Geneva Global Hub for Education in Emergencies, Save the Children, and Plan International, in the backdrop of the first-ever High-Level Financing Conference organized in close collaboration with the Governments of Colombia, Germany, Niger, Norway, and South Sudan, ECW and Switzerland.

Birgitte Lange, CEO of Save the Children Norway, stressed that climate change is not only a threat to the future, “for the world’s 2.4 billion children, the climate crisis is a global emergency crisis today that is disrupting children and their education. Climate change contributes to, increases, and deepens the existing crisis of which children are carrying the burden.

“Last year, Save the Children held our biggest-ever dialogue, where we heard from at least 54,000 children in 41 countries around the world. They shared their thoughts on climate change and its consequences for them. Keeping children in school amidst a climate crisis is critical to the children’s well-being and their learning. Education plays a lifesaving role.”

Rana Tanveer Hussain, Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training in Pakistan, spoke of the severe impact of the floods on the country’s education system, “more than 34,000 public education institutions have been damaged or destroyed. At least 2.6 million students are affected. As many as 1 million children are at risk of dropping out of school altogether.

“During this crisis, ECW quickly came forward with great support, extending a grant of USD 5 million through the First Emergency Response Program in the floods-affected districts in September and October 2022, targeting 19,000 children thus far. In addition, ECW multiyear resilience program has also been leveraged to contribute to these great efforts. But the need is still great.”

Gregorius Yoris, a young leader representing Youth for Education in Emergencies in Indonesia, said despite children being at the forefront of the climate crisis, they have been furthest left behind in finding solutions to climate change.

Folly Bah Thibault, broadcast journalist, Al Jazeera, and Founder and President, Elle Ira A L’Ecole Foundation Kesso Bah moderated the session on climate change in which child delegates told how children are being left furthest behind in the climate crisis. Credit: ECW

With one billion children, or nearly half of the world’s children living in countries at extremely high risk of climate change and environmental hazards, Dr Heike Kuhn, Head of Division, Education at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development in Germany, told participants it is time to raise climate resilient children.

“Weather-related disasters are growing, and young people are the most affected; we need three things in place: climate resilient schools, climate resilient teachers, and climate resilient students. We need climate-smart schools to stay safe when disaster strikes,” she explained.

“We must never forget about the teachers, for they must be agents of change, and teach children to use resources such as water and energy in a sustainable way. Children must also be taught how to behave during extreme weather changes such as earthquakes without leaving behind the most vulnerable children.”

As curtains fell on the landmark two-day conference, Yasmine Sherif, the Director of Education Cannot Wait, told participants, “The greatest feeling comes from the fact that all ECW’s stakeholders are here and we have raised these resources together, governments, civil society, UN agencies, private sector, Foundations.

“When I watched the panels and the engagements, I felt that everyone has that sense of ownership. Education Cannot Wait is yours. The success of this conference is a historic milestone for education in emergencies and protracted crises.”

In all, 17 donors announced pledges to ECW, including five contributions from new donors – a historic milestone for education in emergencies and protracted crises and ECW. Just over one month into the multilateral Fund’s new 2023-2026 Strategic Plan, these landmark commitments already amount to more than half of the USD 1.5 billion required to deliver on the Fund’s four-year Strategic Plan.

On the way forward, Sherif said ECW is already up and running, but with the additional USD 826 million, the Fund was getting a big leap forward toward the 20 million children and adolescents that will be supported with holistic child-centered education. This is in line with the new Strategic Plan, whose top priorities include localization, working with local organizations at grassroots levels, youths, and getting the children involved as well.

“We can no longer look at climate-induced disasters and education in silos. Conflict creates disruptions in education, so does climate-induced disasters and then the destiny of children and adolescents having to flee their home countries as refugees or forcefully displaced in-country,” she emphasized.

“Most of all, as we have seen in Afghanistan and across the globe, the right for every girl to access a quality education. And we are moving already, and that is where we are going from here. Thanks to the great contribution in the capital of humanitarian settings, we are bringing the development sector of education to those left furthest behind. Thank you, Switzerland, for hosting us.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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ZSC-CEO und Verwaltungsrat Peter Zahner äussert sich zum Verhalten von Marc Crawford. Was blüht dem Kanadier mit der kurzen Lunte?

Knapp zwei Wochen nach dem ein mit diversen Giftstoffen beladener Zug in den USA entgleist war, passiert dasselbe im US-Bundesstaat Michigan. Beide Züge der Betreiberfirma Norfolk Southern transportierten gefährliche Chemikalien.

Philipp Köhn (24) ist der dritte Nati-Goalie, der in dieser Woche auf internationalem Niveau glänzt.

Le champion de boxe Martin Bakole a reçu 100 000 $ cash du gouvernement congolais pour lui permettre de préparer son combat contre le boxeur américain Michael Hunter. Cependant, l’américain nie avoir prévu un quelconque duel avec Bakole, suscitant ainsi une polémique sur la toile. Qu’est-ce qui s’est réellement passé ?

Viermal im Jahr müssen Grossinvestoren in den USA über ihre Anlagen informieren. Blick zeigt die Top Ten von Börsenguru Warren Buffett.

The Swedish presidency of the EU Council proposed giving media outlets the power to scrutinise content restriction decisions in a new compromise text to the Media Freedom Act circulated this week. 

Increasing physical activity among Europeans could save EU countries €8 billion annually, the WHO and OECD estimated in their report published on Friday (17 February). 

A return of non-alignment was evident at the March 2022 UN General Assembly special session on Ukraine. Fifty-two governments from the global south did not support western sanctions against Russia. CREDIT: Manuel Elias/UN

By External Source
Feb 17 2023 (IPS)

An African proverb notes that “when two elephants fight, it is the grass underneath that suffers”. Many states in the global south are, therefore, seeking to avoid getting caught in the middle of any future battles between the US and China. Instead, they are calling for a renewal of the concept of non-alignment. This was an approach employed in the 1950s by newly independent countries to balance between the two ideological power blocs of east and west during the era of the Cold War 

The new non-alignment stance is based on a perceived need to maintain southern sovereignty, pursue socio-economic development, and benefit from powerful external partners without having to choose sides. It also comes from historical grievances during the era of slavery, colonialism and Cold War interventionism.

These grievances include unilateral American military interventions in Grenada (1983), Panama (1989) and Iraq (2003) as well as support by the US and France for autocracies in countries like Egypt, Morocco, Chad and Saudi Arabia, when it suits their interests.

82 southern states refused to back western efforts to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council. These included powerful southern states such as India, Indonesia, South Africa, Ethiopia, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico

Many southern governments are particularly irked by America’s Manichaean division of the world into “good” democracies and “bad” autocracies. More recently, countries in the global south have highlighted north-south trade disputes and western hoarding of COVID-19 vaccines as reinforcing the unequal international system of “global apartheid”.

A return of non-alignment was evident at the March 2022 UN General Assembly special session on Ukraine. Fifty-two governments from the global south did not support western sanctions against Russia. This, despite Russia’s clear violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty, which southern states have historically condemned.

A month later, 82 southern states refused to back western efforts to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council.

These included powerful southern states such as India, Indonesia, South Africa, Ethiopia, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico.

 

The origins of non-alignment

In 1955, a conference was held in the Indonesian city of Bandung to regain the sovereignty of Africa and Asia from western imperial rule. The summit also sought to foster global peace, promote economic and cultural cooperation, and end racial domination. Governments attending were urged to abstain from collective defence arrangements with great powers.

Six years later, in 1961, the 120-strong Non-Aligned Movement emerged. Members were required to shun military alliances such as NATO and the Warsaw Pact, as well as bilateral security treaties with great powers.

Non-alignment advocated “positive” – not passive – neutrality. States were encouraged to contribute actively to strengthening and reforming institutions such as the UN and the World Bank.

India’s patrician prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, is widely regarded to have been the intellectual “father of non-alignment”. He regarded the concept as an insurance policy against world domination by either superpower bloc or China. He also advocated nuclear disarmament.

Indonesia’s military strongman, Suharto, championed non-alignment through “regional resilience”. South-east Asian states were urged to seek autonomy and prevent external powers from intervening in the region.

Egypt’s charismatic prophet of Arab unity, Gamal Abdel Nasser, strongly backed the use of force in conducting wars of liberation in Algeria and southern Africa, buying arms and receiving aid from both east and west.
For his part, Ghana’s prophet of African unity, Kwame Nkrumah, promoted the idea of an African High Command as a common army to ward off external intervention and support Africa’s liberation.

The Non-Aligned Movement, however, suffered from the problems of trying to maintain cohesion among a large, diverse group. Many countries were clearly aligned to one or other power bloc.

By the early 1980s, the group had switched its focus from east-west geo-politics to north–south geo-economics. The Non-Aligned Movement started advocating a “new international economic order”. This envisaged technology and resources being transferred from the rich north to the global south in order to promote industrialisation.

The north, however, simply refused to support these efforts.

 

Latin America and south-east Asia

Most of the recent thinking and debates on non-alignment have occurred in Latin America and south-east Asia.

Most Latin American countries have refused to align with any major power. They have also ignored Washington’s warnings to avoid doing business with China. Many have embraced Chinese infrastructure, 5G technology and digital connectivity.

Bolivia, Cuba, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Many of the region’s states declined western requests to impose sanctions on Moscow. The return of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as president of Brazil – the largest and wealthiest country in the region – heralds the “second coming” (following his first presidency between 2003 and 2011) of a champion of global south solidarity.

For its part, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has shown that non-alignment has as much to do with geography as strategy. Singapore sanctioned Russia over the invasion of Ukraine. Indonesia condemned the intervention but rejected sanctions. Myanmar backed the invasion while Laos and Vietnam refused to condemn Moscow’s aggression.

Many ASEAN states have historically championed “declaratory non-alignment”. They have used the concept largely rhetorically while, in reality, practising a promiscuous “multi-alignment”. Singapore and the Philippines forged close military ties with the US; Myanmar with India; Vietnam with Russia, India, and the US; and Malaysia with Britain, Australia, and New Zealand.

This is also a region in which states simultaneously embrace and fear Chinese economic assistance and military cooperation. This, while seeking to avoid any external powers dominating the region or forming exclusionary military alliances.

Strong African voices are largely absent from these non-alignment debates, and are urgently needed.

 

Pursuing non-alignment in Africa

Africa is the world’s most insecure continent, hosting 84% of UN peacekeepers. This points to a need for a cohesive southern bloc that can produce a self-sustaining security system – Pax Africana – while promoting socio-economic development.

Uganda aims to champion this approach when it takes over the three-year rotating chair of the Non-Aligned Movement in December 2023. Strengthening the organisation into a more cohesive bloc, while fostering unity within the global south, is a major goal of its tenure.

Uganda has strong potential allies. For example, South Africa has championed “strategic non-alignment” in the Ukraine conflict, advocating a UN-negotiated solution, while refusing to sanction its BRICS ally, Russia. It has also relentlessly courted its largest bilateral trading partner, China, whose Belt and Road Initiative and BRICS bank are building infrastructure across the global south.

Beijing is Africa’s largest trading partner at US$254 billion, and builds a third of the continent’s infrastructure.

If a new non-alignment is to be achieved in Africa, the foreign military bases of the US, France and China – and the Russian military presence – must, however, be dismantled.

At the same time the continent should continue to support the UN-led rules-based international order, condemning unilateral interventions in both Ukraine and Iraq. Pax Africana would best be served by:

• building local security capacity in close cooperation with the UN;
• promoting effective regional integration; and
• fencing off the continent from meddling external powers, while continuing to welcome trade and investment from both east and west.

Adekeye Adebajo, Professor and Senior research fellow, Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship, University of Pretoria

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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